I'm loving this so far, but the more I play the more one thing becomes extremely grating: the inability to save between episodes.

I understand permadeath is a staple of the rogue sub-genre, but it's not enjoyable to get to the fourth or fifth episode of a season, only to die and have to start all over. It doesn't increase difficulty, only frustration and tedium, and makes me not want to play for any extended period. Some of these episodes take me a good 30 minutes (sometimes more) each to complete. I don't know about others, but for me Galak-Z is also fairly challenging with the complexity of its controls and can become quickly overwhelming in the heat of huge battles.

There could be a way to implement some sort of limited save system, collecting materials that would allow you to save your state one or two times where you deem it suitable to start the episode over, and not just coins that give you cash. I know that the devs probably won't even read this much less make such a change, which is unfortunate because this is a really fun game but tbh I don't think I'll be able to see all it has to offer as I hear Season 3 really ramps up the challenge and I'm struggling to get past mid 2.

Some general gameplay feedback:

-when the Dualshock disconnects it doesn't automatically pause the game. I had mine disconnect from lack of charge assuming it would, only to have the game continue and I died. My fault I realize, but nearly every game does this. It's especially bad considering how punishing it is towards failure.

-the mini-map gives no frame of reference and is completely useless and unneeded.

-the sound effect for the transformation is either glitchy or poorly done. It sounds like the sound is cutting in and out. If this is intentional I can understand what was being attempted, but the execution is lacking as it sounds too segmented and comes off as broken instead.

-a few options to customize the HUD would be appreciated (removing button prompts and player/enemy portraits, etc).

I like the way death works in this game, but an easy mode could work for those who have problems with permadeath. I'd love to be able to let go of grabbed items like explosive barrels to set up traps, by the way.

I'd like to see more crazy weapon modifiers, to spice things up. ie: a modifier that made your Mecha shoot swords of light at the enemy and the Ship melee hit with the laser, etc. Oh, also, many more different backgrounds to make the levels more varied.